


We've Got Issues

by americanchemicals



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coming Out, Dorks in Love, Fluff and Crack, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, In high school, Love Confessions, M/M, Newspapers, School Dances, Secret Admirer, Teenage Dorks, Valentine's Day, they work on a newspaper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-08 08:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13454460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanchemicals/pseuds/americanchemicals
Summary: Shane and Ryan were both editors on their high school's newspaper. And that's fine, except for the fact that in the February issue of the paper, you can send in anonymous love notes - and Shane forgot to make his anonymous.





	1. Memes and Spilled Tea

**Author's Note:**

> totally not projecting my own experiences from working on a high school newspaper lmao

"I'm sorry, you've already lost me. What's the article about?" Ryan leaned back in his chair, bringing a hand up to rub his temples. He had barely gotten past the first sentence and was already beginning to feel a headache coming.

"It's about the rising threat of genetic discrimination that can arise from opting-in to DNA testing," Shane answered, not looking up from where he was copy editing said article. 

"And you wonder why people never read your section," Ryan teased, spinning in his chair to face his computer. 

"You're just upset because commentary is a section for intellectuals."

"Hey! Sports is way more interesting than political commentary! I swear your writers have covered climate change every single issue this year!" Ryan argued.

"Okay, but all of your article titles have basically been 'Why *insert name of sports team here* is the team to watch this season.'" 

"You come up with more interesting titles, then. My titles get straight to the point, and you don't need to be an AP Scholar to understand them," Ryan taunted, and Shane finally looked up from his paper.

"Further proof that my section is for the intellectuals. And I suppose you don't need unique titles if all of your articles are going to be about the exact same thing."

"Shane, there's a difference between football and hockey."

"Well, I can't tell. Both have horribly high statistics when it comes to injuries, you really could write something about-" Shane was cut off by Eugene Lee Yang, in all his glory, slamming the door to the newspaper office open, storming into the room, and slapping a piece of paper onto the main table. 

"Who. Did. This." Eugene looked up, eyes scanning the room with a glare that could ruthlessly slaughter puppies and children alike with no remorse. 

"I love those memes," Steven, the back page editor, piped up, unfazed by Eugene's rage.

"Those don't count as memes, you illiterate fuck," Andrew, the arts and entertainment editor, commented monotonously.

"Would everyone shut up! As editor-in-chief of this newspaper, I cannot stand for this!" Eugene wailed, holding up the poster that was causing his third meltdown of the day.

On the poster was one of those Valentine's cards that trended every year on the internet, with a picture of Hans from _Frozen_ , with the caption, "if only someone actually loved you." (A/N pictured below)

 

Under that image, were the words, printed in bold:

**For $5, put a Valentine for a special someone ;) in the February issue of _The Shallot_ _._ All proceeds will go to the local food shelter. Sales will be during lunch periods in the newspaper office. Can be anonymous and must be school appropriate.**

"That right there is artistic genius," Shane wheezed.

"Aw, thank you," Isaac, the student life editor, pretended to swoon at the compliment. 

"Isaac, you're off the paper."

"You can't fire me, I'm the one with the passwords to all the accounts," the junior scoffed in reply, pulling his phone out of his pocket and beginning to text someone.

"This is an established newspaper with a reputation to uphold, you can't just go around printing these by the hundreds and slapping them on walls all over the school," Eugene reprimanded, but everyone could tell that he wasn't as angry as initially expressed. The EIC plopped into a chair at the main table, ready to move to grab an article to copy edit, when everyone's phone buzzed with a notification.

"We're right here, you know," Ryan commented as he read his screen, seeing that Isaac had just texted in the group chat. But Isaac paid him no mind, he was too busy hysterically laughing at pictures of cows sitting like dogs.

"I also sent a mass text to the school with that same info, FYI," Isaac told Eugene, wiping tears from his eyes. 

"How does someone even send a mass text to every person in the school," Ryan said with disbelief.

"I'm the student life editor. I'm in charge of the only section that everyone actually reads, because people like to feel important. Plus, my memes about Principal Erickson hold this public establishment together. You really shouldn't question my power at this point."

"You're like a mini Eugene," Shane whispered under his breath, before trying to find some good images for the layout of his page. 

-

"So, Ryan, are you going to send in a Valentine to someone special?" Becca nudged him with her elbow while he was scrolling through pictures of last night's hockey game.

"He has sent in a Valentine, actually," Isaac commented from his computer on the other side of the room.

"You only know that because you're in charge of the money," Ryan quipped, ears going red.

"To who?! Oh my god, was it Sh-" 

"Rebecca!" Ryan slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes growing wide, the corners crinkling from how hard she was smiling.

Shane chose, at this moment, to stroll into the room. He seemed unfazed as he made his way to his computer next to Ryan's, even with Ryan's hand clamped over Becca's face as she jumped excitedly in her chair. Just typical newspaper stuff. 

"Are you guys talking about the boys swim team again?" he poked, and Isaac spun around in his chair so fast it almost gave Shane whiplash just watching him.

"I have pictures if you're writing an article about boys' swimming."

"Isaac, we all know about your hundreds of pictures. I really think we need to talk about how much you've been abusing your press pass," Shane tried to reason, but Isaac was already pulling up the files on his computer. 

Everyone, thankfully, had forgotten about why Ryan was freaking out, and moved on with talking about the spreads for the month and what pictures they'd be using. 

"Aw, Ryan, someone sent you a Valentine's," Isaac commented a few hours later.

"Why are you reading those? I asked you to look over-" Andrew began to talk, but was disrupted by Becca practically falling out of her chair to read it.

"AW RYAN IT'S SO CUTE!" she squealed.

"Let me see," he stood to walk over to the computer, but Isaac threw a pen at him.

"Nope! You have to wait until it goes to print."

"Then why does Becca get to see it?"

"Because the Valentines are going on her pages," Isaac explained, and Eugene turned to him, eyebrows furrowed. 

"If they're going on her pages, then why are you going through the spreadsheet with all the love notes?" 

"I already finished my layout and converted it to a PDF. And, I'm tech savvy enough to figure out how to manage the survey without compromising the integrity of our paper. I even know who sent in each response, so I'm able to report to administration if we get another one of those stalker incidents like last year."

Shane, who had been taking a sip of tea, began choking. Isaac, observing this response, began to laugh hysterically. Everyone else, well, they remained thoroughly confused. 

"Remind me to never get on Isaac's bad side," Steven commented. He was just trying to make this month's crossword in peace and SL just had to go starting drama.


	2. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little internalized homophobia?

"Isaac, I'm begging you, I need to change that note to anonymous-" Shane was pleading with his fellow editor, sitting alone together at a table in the cafeteria. It was lunchtime, so the place was bustling, people shouting to their friends to try and be heard. 

"Well, the form indicates that you didn't want it to be anonymous, and that page has already been finalized. Our editing system is ancient, do you really want me to risk everything by going in and making changes just a few hours before everything is sent to the printer?" Isaac wasn't having this, he had things to do, like eat his lunch in peace.

"It was a mistake, I swear to god, I can't have my name on that love note, it'll ruin everything." Shane had been losing sleep over this, he was still sweating profusely, he hadn't been this nervous since opening the results to his ACT. 

"It's not going to ruin everything, jeez Shane, stop being a drama queen and trust me. Things are going to work out."

"I'm going to have to quit the newspaper. Commentary is going to go to shit! Promise they won't replace me with a conservative editor that doesn't present both viewpoints. Please, Isaac, I'll do anything to get you to change the pages. I'll..." Shane pondered for a moment, staring at his friend. Isaac, eyebrows raised, continued to patiently eat his sandwich.

"I'll get you the phone number of that swimmer you have a crush on!" Shane exclaimed, and Isaac rolled his eyes, setting his sandwich down.

"I already have his phone number, dingus. Plus, you don't even know his name." Isaac smirked, and it reminded him a lot of the Cheshire cat. 

"The one with the black speedo, that's the one." Shane smiled confidently.

"That's the team uniform, dumbass, they all wear black speedos." Shane's smile faltered.

"It's too late, my dear friend. And, even if I could help you, I wouldn't," Isaac laughed, standing up to sort his trash. If demons were real, Isaac was probably one of them. 

The thing was, if Shane could edit the pages with the love notes, he would. The only problem was, he didn't know the password to the drive that they were saved on. The drive that the printer had access to, and at three p.m. today said printer was going to take those files and start spewing out pages by the hundreds. He needed Isaac because that little shit had the passwords. It was currently 11:45 a.m., which meant he had around three hours to fix his mistake.

On the electronic form, he had meant to keep the note anonymous. But, this morning, when watching Isaac photoshop some clipart for the one of the pages of love notes, he saw the note he had written, with his name slapped onto the bottom. He thought it was Isaac pulled a prank at first, but he pulled up the form, showing Shane that he had not, in fact, checked the "anonymous" box. So, he was royally screwed, because if those pages went to print, in exactly one week, everyone would know about his crush. More specifically, his crush, aka his best friend, who would cease to be such once everything was laid out onto the table. 

-

"Eugene, I need one of the featured pages changed," he pleaded to the senior at 12:05 p.m. 

"They're in the P Drive. I don't have access to that," Eugene dismissed him, engrossed in one of the rival school's papers. He was probably looking at the competition before they started submitting issues for awards.

"You're the editor-in-chief, how do you not have access?" 

"Because Isaac went and changed all of them to alphanumericals. He said that using the old mascot's name for all of our passwords made our accounts 'unsecured,' so I let him change them. He's gunning for my position next year, so it's not like it matters or anything. Also, look at this format! The bylines in this thing are so gross, all the titles are lowercase. I think I'm going to puke."

"You're no help."

-

At 1:43 p.m., Shane was sat in biology, and he was tapping his foot relentlessly. He couldn't let that love note go to print. 

Maybe he could toss water onto all the newspaper computers. The newspaper would have to shut down for probably the rest of his high school career, but he would be okay with that if it assured his feelings remained hidden. But no, the drive was online, so that really wouldn't work. Maybe he could sabotage the school's WiFi routers, delaying the pages going to print, meaning that there'd be more time to go in and change stuff. But, he'd still need the passwords to do that.

"What're you thinking so hard about? If it's about the microbiology lab, I'm working on the response questions after school if you want to work together," Ryan suggested, nudging him gently with his elbow and smiling brightly. Shane kind of melted internally every time Ryan smiled at him like that. That's why he needed to fix this. If that note got out, Ryan wouldn't smile at him like that anymore. He'd probably be disgusted with him. 

Ryan was the literal definition of a jock. He breathed sports, he was pure masculinity. Yes, he was progressive and was fine with Shane's sexuality, but what if he wasn't fine with his gay friend having gay feelings for him? 

"Isaac is being impossible and I need him to do something for me," Shane sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Did you try bribery?" Ryan laughed, but felt bad for the taller teen at the same time.

"I offered to get him the phone number of a guy on the swim team and he wasn't impressed."

Ryan laughed louder, earning him a lot from his teacher to be quieter.

"That's because he has all of their numbers. And Shane, you don't even know what guy he likes," Ryan teased, and Shane sent him a glare.

"Everyone keeps saying that I don't, and no one will tell me. Tell me Ryan, who is he madly in love with?" Shane leaned into Ryan's personal space, an inquisitive look on his face. 

"Considering he's written two articles solely about him, I'm surprised how you didn't know. It's Corey."

And when Ryan gave him this information, Shane got an absolutely awful idea. But alas, he was desperate.

-

"I'll tell Corey you like him if you don't do what I ask," Shane said during passing hour, as Isaac was putting textbooks away in his locker. Slamming the door shut, he leaned into Shane's space, keeping his voice low.

"You wouldn't." Isaac looked pissed. He was only a few inches shorter than Shane, but he had straightened his posture to look Shane dead in the eye, and it made him look a lot taller. 

"I would." Shane said confidently, keeping a straight face.

"I don't believe you." But Isaac's expression had faltered, like he wasn't actually sure if Shane would or would not. 

"Fine." Shane spun around, walking down the hall to where Corey's locker was. He wasn't actually sure how far he was willing to go, but he wasn't going to stop now.

Isaac hadn't followed him, not right away, but once Shane was just a few feet from the swimmer, he could hear the sound of fast footsteps chasing after him. Isaac grabbed at his jacket, yanking at him, but Shane kept moving.

"Hey Corey," he smiled, and the junior turned to smile at him.

"Hey Shane, what's up?" 

"Shane, I can't, the pages have already gone to print, I can't change them," Isaac spoke quickly, in a panic.

"Isaac here has a crush on you," he stated, and both Corey and Isaac froze.

"You're gay?" Corey turned to Isaac, who had tears forming in his eyes.

"Fuck you, Shane, that wasn't your secret to tell." And with that, the editor turned, running away. Shane felt a stab in his chest, immediately regretting his actions. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise there's a happy ending to this i'm just really good at angst writing forgive me please


	3. Starting Over

"What the hell, Shane!" Ryan had stormed into Shane's bedroom, yelling. 

"I-" Shane went to explain himself, but knew that nothing he could say would justify his actions.

"You just outed Isaac in front of the whole school! You're so goddamn lucky he's out to his family, do you know how dangerous that could've been for him? Just because you're out doesn't mean that other people are ready to be out too! I called Becca, and he's not responding to any of his calls or texts, or answering his door. You need to find him and fucking apologize, I cannot believe you! What were you even thinking!" Ryan was pulling at his hair, pacing back and forth through the room while he shouted. Shane was crying, but knew that he deserved this.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't. I'm not the person that needs apologizing to. Was this about the whole you needed him to do something for you? You couldn't get him to do it so you blackmailed him?! What kind of friend even does that?!" Ryan had stopped pacing, and was now just facing Shane, who was sat on his bed.

"It had to do with a love note I sent in," Shane admitted, ducking his head down.

"You outed him because of a love note?" Ryan asked with disbelief.

"It wasn't just... It had to do with what was written in the note, and who it was to. I forgot to make it anonymous, and I can't let this person know who I am, Ryan, it'll ruin me. I needed Isaac to go in and edit the pages."

"You were worried it would ruin you so you ruined him?" 

"I wasn't thinking."

"No, Shane, you weren't. I can't believe you of all people would do this." And with that, Ryan left the room, and Shane cried, because he knew that he had made things exponentially worse. There was no way he'd ever be able to recover from any of this. 

-

Arriving at Isaac's house, he awkwardly rang the doorbell, still not entirely sure what he was going to say. Expecting Isaac, or maybe one of his family members to open the door, the person who did took him by surprise.

"Corey?" Shane practically shouted. 

"Hey, what's up?" Corey smiled shyly. 

"What're you doing here?"

"I, uh, came here to see Isaac. He was pretty upset after what you said in the hall so I came here to clarify things." Corey scratched the back of his neck nervously, and Shane remained confused. 

There was movement behind Corey, and Isaac appeared at the door, not surprised when he saw Shane.

"Dude, people have been texting and calling you, why haven't you been answering?" Shane questioned, and Isaac blushed, looking down at the ground.

"I was... busy," he answered, smiling widely at Corey, who gave him heart eyes in return. 

"Oh. OH. Alright... Jesus, um, I came here to apologize, actually, about my outburst," Shane admitted, "and..."

"I forgive you. Things actually turned out. See you tomorrow," Isaac laughed, pulling Corey's arm and practically slamming the door in the taller teen's face. Well. He did not see that coming. 

-

The next day at school, everyone talked about how Corey and Isaac were dating now for about fifteen minutes, and then moved on to talk about how someone had taken all the anti-drug posters and taped them to the inside of the urinals. Administration had yet to still find out, so people were taking an inappropriate advantage of that fact. Ah, high school. What a magical place. 

Shane now had to come to terms with the fact that his love note was, in fact, being printed, and soon his life was going to be over. Well, more over than it already was, because even though Isaac was the complete opposite of angry with Shane for his actions, Ryan still seemed furious. The shorter man had been avoiding Shane all morning, if their eyes even met accidentally in the hallway, Ryan would quickly avert his gaze. 

It was hell. The entire morning he'd sat, bored and alone in his classes. Usually Ryan would text him funny snippets every passing hour, but Shane got nothing. No memes to his phone, no comments about dumb things people said to each other. It opened his eyes to how many aspects of his life that Ryan was involved in. 

Lunch wasn't too bad. His table had gotten a bit louder, with a plethora of Corey's friends sitting with them. They told him about how annoying it had been to listen about Corey's crush, and they thanked Shane for pushing the two of them together. The couple in question had kept the PDA to a minimum (thankfully) but would send each other smiling glances that it was so cute Shane wanted to puke. It would've been better if they were being gross and all over each other. 

In biology, Shane and Ryan were partners, but Ryan was refusing to talk to him at all, which made their experiment extremely difficult. 

"Isaac's not mad at me, but, you probably already knew that. I know what I did wasn't cool, but could you please talk to me now. It doesn't even have to be about anything other than this lab. It's just... We've both worked really hard to have good grades in this class, so let's not throw that all away now," Shane started, and Ryan grunted in response. 

There was a pause for a few moments, before Ryan spoke up.

"I keep thinking, would you do that to other people? If you had another friend that was in the closet, would you so carelessly out them without a second thought? Yeah, you got lucky this time, but what if their family would kick them out if they found out their son is gay?" Ryan spoke quietly, carefully measuring out the Benedict's reagent. 

"No, no, I'm never doing that ever again. I did get lucky with Isaac, even if my motivations were completely selfish. I would've helped him fix things, had they gone down another path. Hell, if his parents kicked him out, I'd let him stay at my place. My parents definitely wouldn't mind."

"They wouldn't?"

"No, one of Finn's friends got kicked out cause she was a lesbian, and she stayed with us for a few weeks a few years ago before her family realized that it wasn't worth it to be mad at her for something she couldn't control. We have a guest bedroom that never gets used, so if a friend's in trouble, then yeah, they're okay with letting people stay with us," Shane explained.

"Do you think... They'd let me stay with you?" Ryan asked, but it was so quiet that Shane had to strain his ears in the small classroom. 

"Why would you need to-" Shane started to question, but froze when the realization hit him. It was like he had been doused in a bucket of cold ice water, and Ryan's anger had made sense. That anger had manifested from the fear that it could've been Ryan that Shane had outed.

"You're... gay?" Shane whispered, and Ryan shook his head a bit.

"Bisexual, but, only a few people know, so please keep it to yourself."

"You told other people but didn't tell me?" Shane was a bit hurt, even though he knew he didn't have a right to be. Ryan may be his best friend, but maybe it was incorrect of him to assume that he was Ryan's.

"Just Becca and Isaac, really. I couldn't tell you, I was too afraid of your reaction."

Shane fell quiet after that, not knowing how to continue. He was openly gay and Ryan had been afraid to come out to him. His own friend, felt unsafe because of him, and Shane knew that it had more to do than just yesterday's incident. He couldn't pinpoint where this fear had stemmed from, and it made his throat run dry. He had been hurting the person he loved, and he didn't know how or why, and he couldn't build up the courage to ask for further details, because he was scared. 

 


	4. Say Something

Shane thought he had hit rock bottom, and then the floor gave out. He was sat in the newspaper office with the rest of the editorial team, the stack of printed newspapers taunting him. They were wrapped in hard plastic strips that held the stacks together, which was really the only thing that kept people with sticky fingers from leafing through the pages. 

He was supposed to be planning next month's issue, but all he could do was stare daggers at the bright pink front page, the cartoon hearts giving him the urge to burn the whole place down. 

People were talking about the Valentine's Dance, Sweethearts. A lot of editors got asked through love notes every year, so just like Shane, a lot of other people in that office really wanted to break the plastic away to get their hands on a paper. 

"What's with the grumpy face?" Becca nudged Shane, having rolled up a chair next to him.

"I've already destroyed my friendship with Ryan and that paper is going to make everything worse," he admitted.

"You're way too pessimistic about this whole situation, you know that?" She leaned back in her chair, and Shane did the same, sighing loudly.

"Not everything can magically turn out, this isn't a fanfiction," he grumbled.

"Well, if you don't have any plans for Saturday, I'm having some friends over that are boycotting the dance," she invited.

"By boycotting, you mean that they're too hopelessly single to find a date?" 

"I prefer the term boycotting, thanks," she laughed, sliding her chair away and going back over to her desk by Isaac. Ryan was currently sat over on that side of the small room, arguing with Isaac over pictures for sports.

"I don't care if he has a national record, there's more than just one swimmer on the team going to State," the sports editor loudly complained, and Isaac went into an explanation about how he "couldn't help it that Corey was so photogenic."

Glad that he wasn't in Ryan's shoes, Shane pulled up a blank document on his computer, starting to write an article for March. It was a commentary piece on how media conglomerates and political bias in the United States meant that 90% of media consumed could basically be labeled as propaganda. Meanwhile, Becca was working on a piece of students' pets wearing funny costumes. 

After half an hour, the room grew eerily quiet as people threw themselves into their work, the sound of fingers dancing across keys and the occasional sound of the printer running the only noise present. That's why, when there was a sound of scissors cutting through hard plastic, Shane and a few others looked up to see where it was coming from. This, folks, is when all hell broke loose.

"What are you doing?" Andrew asked Eugene, who was pulling a paper from the top of the now freed stack of newspapers.

"Going through and looking for obvious errors. We're submitting this issue for a layout design award, and I don't want to embarrass myself," Eugene replied, and multiple chairs rolled closer to the Editor-in-Chief.

Steven was the first to reach out a hand slowly, fingers just about to grace the newsprint when Eugene smacked him lightly.

"The rest of you losers have to wait until tomorrow morning to read anything."

People were ready to accept this, when Shane told himself that he literally had nothing else to lose. Grabbing an issue, not caring if he crumbled it a bit, he went into a dead sprint out of the office. Eugene screamed after him, but Shane kept going, not stopping it till he was at the gender-neutral bathroom, locking the door behind him and flipping quickly to the feature center-spread. 

Later, he would find out that everyone else had made a grab for the papers after he had left, Eugene giving up. 

Shane didn't even bother to read the other love notes, he zeroed in on the one inside a light purple heart titled  **To Ryan Bergara:**

Hands shaking, he read through it, his name, sure enough, clearly printed on the bottom. Everything was suddenly very real, more real than it had been just a few moments before. There really was no going back now. Folding up the issue, he walked out of the bathroom, not really surprised that no one had followed him. He went home, not caring that all his stuff was still in the office. He would rather run away than face things head on.

-

He had gone to school explicitly early that morning, one, because Corey needed his help, and two, to get his stuff and complete the assignments that were due that day. As more and more students began to trickle in, he did his best to curl in on himself, hoping he was as invisible as possible in the crowd. 

Of course, people were paying more attention to Corey and his god-awful sign. They were stood in front of Isaac's locker, who, according to Becca, was t-minus thirty seconds away from them.

The sign read: _"Are you a flip-turn? Because I'm head-over-heels for you... Sweethearts?"_

It included little red hearts and blue cartoon waves, and honestly, Shane was done with high school relationships. Watching Isaac get all gushy when he saw the sign and kiss Corey while the gathered crowd awed and Becca danced happily made Shane wish PDA was forever banned in high schools. Sure, his friend was happy and that was great and all, but Shane was not having it. Would these moments even matter once everyone left for college? Their adult lives?

"Congratulations, by the way," Isaac said to him before him and his boyfriend walked off to class, leaving Shane perplexed as fuck. It wasn't sarcastic, he had said that with a genuine tone. So why was the student life editor congratulating him? Eyebrows furrowed, Shane tried shrugging it off, before making his own way to class. 

Pink newspapers were in everyone's hands as people ignored all the hard-written articles to look at the love notes. Seriously, media literacy among youth was dead. 

"Look what Ryan Bergara wrote, that's so cute," one girl said to another, and Shane buried his face in his hands. Oh great, Ryan had written a public love note, probably to someone he was secretly dating that he was too afraid to tell Shane about. More reason why he was such a shit best friend. 

This was going to be a long day.  


	5. There's Nothing More Romantic Than Dissection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: descriptions about animal dissections, I know this can be a touchy subject for people so I'm just putting it out there

Shane was dreading going to biology class today. Ryan was his lab partner, which meant not only did they sit next to each other, but they would actually have to talk to each other. He couldn't face Ryan. He wasn't ready. Honestly, Shane would probably never be ready. 

Because the biology department had a sick sense of humor, they were going to be dissecting pig hearts. Shane had forgotten about the opt-out form, which had been due yesterday, so there was no way he could get out of this.

Well, maybe he could faint. If it was believable enough, they'd send him to the nurse's office for the rest of the hour. Yeah, that seemed like a viable plan.

Walking into the room, class had just begun. Shane hadn't meant to be late on purpose, he had just been dilly-dallying unnecessarily by his locker for way too long so that he could prolong confrontation. Everyone had just started the lab, opening the packages, the whole room smelling like that preservative chemical (Shane couldn't remember what it was called- formalin, maybe?). Shane sheepishly shuffled over to his lab table, where Ryan was visibly disgusted as he pulled out the specimen with his gloved hand. As Shane moved his stool to sit, the metal legs scraping across the linoleum floors, Ryan looked up, meeting Shane's eyes for a second before glancing back to the table. Shane pulled on a pair of his own gloves, waiting for the worst lab of his life to start.

There was a moment of awkward silence, both frozen in place, before Ryan cleared his throat.

"Um, here Shane," Ryan spoke, holding the pig heart out to Shane. Shane, slightly confused, took it from him, holding the specimen in his own hands, palms up.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, and Ryan smiled at him.

"I just gave you my heart, you know," Ryan laughed, "you could be a little more grateful." 

Shane, stunned, plopped the specimen into the tray. He knew Ryan was just joking, that he didn't mean anything, but it wasn't fair of him to tease Shane like that. Feeling his throat tighten, Shane coughed, blinking the tears from his eyes.

"Can we just focus on the lab?" he snapped, and Ryan's smile dropped. 

"Yeah, sorry. I just thought..." Ryan's voice trailed off, so quiet it could've been classified as a whisper. 

"The lab, Ryan. What's the first step?" Shane did his best to level his own voice, he couldn't let his emotions get in the way of his grades.  _Just focus on the lab and everything will be fine_.

The next hour went painstakingly slow, and the tension between the two teens became so intense it was almost palpable. When the bell finally rang, Shane basically sprinted out of there, wishing a hole would just open up and swallow him. 

At lunch, Shane had curled himself into a ball, trying to stay as invisible as possible. It wasn't until someone harshly punched his shoulder that he looked up to see Becca giving him a disappointed look. 

"Ow! What was that for?" Shane snapped.

"For making Ryan Bergara cry in the bathroom, seriously, are you dumb?" She put her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows at him.

"What? Why is he crying?" Shane stood from his seat, towering over her. Sometimes he forgot that he was a whole foot taller than she was, especially in moments like these where the other editor made him feel increasingly small. Seriously, what was it with short people and rage? Maybe it was because when they get angry their small frames can't contain it all and they must unleash it on everyone around them.

"Would you stop thinking about how short I am and go apologize to your boyfriend?" Becca kicked his shin, causing Shane to cry out.

"Stop beating me up! Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say-"

"Boyfriend, yes, I did. Don't give me the 'I'm not dating him' because you will be, soon. Those love notes were so painfully obvious, and yet you reject him in bio class of all places?" 

"What love note?" Shane asked, and Becca gave him a blank look, slowly blinking at him. 

"You snatched a paper and bolted out of the newspaper office, and didn't read Ryan's love note to you?" Becca began to yell, and yet somehow didn't draw the attention of the entire lunch room to them. 

"He wrote a love note to me? How do you know it was from him-" Shane questioned skeptically, but Becca cut him off.

"It was a public love note you complete dumbass." She then proceeded to grab Shane's arm, dragging him out of the lunch room and down the hall. She stopped in front of the bathroom, holding up a finger and telling Shane to not move. She went and pulled a newspaper from a newsstand, flipping through until she got to the centerspread. Handing it to Shane, she pointed at a love note in a pink heart.

**To Shane Madej: I know we've been friends for a really long time, but I was wondering if you wanted to be more than that... Sweethearts?**

"Shit." Shane looked at Becca, who pointed to the bathroom door, turned on one foot, and went back down the hall. 

Heart pounding in his chest, he pushed open the wooden door, finding Isaac, Andrew, and Steven all standing outside the cubicles. The sound of sniffling and choked sobs filled the bathroom, bouncing off the walls. All three were facing away from the door, and Isaac turned, looking like he was ready to tell Shane to scram, but stopping when he registered who he was. The student life editor walked up to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking it so Shane's ear was close to Isaac's mouth.

"If you hurt him like this again I'll have the swim team beat you to a pulp, are we clear?" 

Shane nodded, and Isaac let go of him, patting Shane on the shoulder and giving him a tight smile. He motioned to the other editors, and the three left the bathroom, leaving just Shane and Ryan. 

Walking over to the only stall that had the door closed, Shane knocked.

"Ryan? Can we talk?"

"Leave me the fuck alone, Shane."

Sighing, Shane stepped back, laying with his back on the floor. He tried not to think about how gross this was as he grabbed the stall door and pulled his way into the stall. Ryan was sat on the toilet, face buried in his hands. At the noise, he looked up, and he grimaced.

"I would've opened the door, you know," Ryan said. 

"Yeah, there's probably e. coli bacteria all over my clothes now, but shut up, I'm trying to make a romantic gesture."

"Okay, Romeo," Ryan laughed weakly. Both stood, standing a few feet apart. Ryan wiped the tears from his face, keeping his eyes on the floor as to avoid making eye contact.

"About biology class, I thought you were making fun of me. I hadn't read your love note, so I thought you had read the one from me and were mocking me for it," Shane explained, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"I would never make fun of you for something like that." Ryan looked up from the floor. 

"Yeah, well, I haven't exactly been thinking rationally this whole week," Shane admitted.

"One could say that again," Ryan joked, and Shane smiled with him.

"Can I... hug you? I feel like an ass for making you cry."

"Oh, there's no way you're touching me after crawling on that floor. You can go home, shower, and change clothes, and then you can do whatever you want to me." Ryan even took a step back dramatically, putting his hands up defensively.

"Anything, you say?" Shane wiggled his eyebrows, winking.

"Shut up, Bigfoot."

"Whatever you say, short stack."

 


	6. Homophobia and Answered Questions

"Hey Shane, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Shane turned in his chair to see Isaac moving to sit down next to him in the library. 

"Yeah, what's up?" he asked, taking in that Isaac looked a little nervous.

"It's about the love note thing-"

"I'm going to cut you off there. It's okay, it worked out for both of us, and-"

"Shane, please let me finish before you jump to any conclusions," Isaac sighed, burying his face in his hands for a moment and breathing deeply before looking up again."

"Listen, when you asked me to change that love note to anonymous that morning, I did. The reason I was working on that page in the first place was because Eugene said that the printer needed the pages early so that everything would be ready on time, so I made the change and then submitted the files. After everything was sent in, I was going over stuff, for fun, when I realized that I hadn't hit the save button. Your love note should've been anonymous, and by then it was too late, and I felt like an awful person for forgetting something as simple as the fucking save button," Isaac explained.

"Wait, wait, you're saying you actually made the effort to change the love note, and you weren't kidding when you said that the pages had already gone to print?" Shane asked incredulously, but his anger was directed towards himself.

Isaac remained quiet, not meeting Shane's eyes, so Shane broke the silence once more.

"Iz, why are you telling me this? Man, I feel like an even shittier person for outing you to the whole school now, you told me you couldn't do anything and I still went up to Corey..."

"There's no point in crying over spilled milk," Isaac spoke quietly, voice barely above a whisper.

"Are you okay?" 

"Sometimes I wish I was still in the closet. I don't know how you do it," Isaac admitted.

"Do what?"

"Deal with it! The name-calling, the looks from people! It's 2018 and I still wish that I was straight!" Isaac cried, and Shane was glad that the library was empty.

"What about Corey? Aren't you happy to be with him?"

"Of course I'm happy, I've had a crush on him for years. I just, it doesn't make it hurt any less when people shove me in the hallway and call me a fa-" Isaac stopped, looking back at his hands again.

"Who called you that? We can report that, you don't have to put up with that bullshit." Shane stood from his chair, ready to storm his way down to administration.

"How do you think that's going to go? The GSA still hasn't been able to get gender-neutral bathrooms, you think they'll hunt down a rich white kid and give him detention when his dad funds the entire football team? It'll just make things worse, not better. Seriously, Shane, you don't have to deal with that?"

"Well, of course I do. I guess I just don't really think twice about it..." the taller said, coming to the realization that it was something that sure as hell happened to him every now and then, but it had never been at the forefront of his mind. 

"Isaac, we're going to do something about this. Stop dwelling about whatever that uneducated jackass said to you, and get up off your butt."

-

"Hey Shane, we need to talk about... what happened," Ryan Bergara said to him, as he was working on his computer in the newspaper office.

"Shit, right, yeah." Shane stood abruptly, engrossed in his work, and knocking his chair over with the motion. Ryan laughed at his antics, smiling at Shane's antics to get the chair back to an upright position.

"That's quite the lengthy article you're writing there," the shorter commented, looking at the document that was displayed on the screen. 

"It's about why our school needs gender-neutral bathrooms, and about how it's worked for other schools in our state. Our gender-sexuality alliance has been talking with administration for over a year now and gotten nowhere, and I've decided the best course of action is to take their struggle to the student body. It's a complimentary article with one about discrimination and bullying that's going up in the Student Life section."

"Oh, wow. That's amazing, Shane. Let me know if there's any way that I can help."

Shane stretched, joints popping, before gesturing for Ryan to lead the way out of the room, so they could have their conversation without the eavesdropping ears of the rest of the newspaper staff. 

Once the door closed behind them, they were met with the dimly lit after-school halls. It was eerie and also a bit calming, that a place that was a chaotic jungle just a few hours before could turn into what resembled a post-apocalyptic wasteland so quickly. 

"So, after the bathroom thing," Ryan started, and Shane nodded, the memories flooding back to him. Going back to Shane's house, where Shane cleaned up after crawling around on the floor, and then talking in Shane's bedroom.

"I meant everything that I said, Ry. I love you," Shane said, and Ryan smiled shyly. 

"I love you, too, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. I need you to answer my love note," Ryan stammered awkwardly, and Shane thought it was beyond cute.

"Your love note?" Shane's mind was drawing up a blank. All he remembered was reading the thing and subsequently freaking the fuck out. 

"I asked you to the dance, you moron. I need to know if you want to go to the dance, because my mom wants to take a thousand pictures beforehand, but, that's only if you want to go. I know some people find the dance stupid, but I don't think it is, because we only go to high school once, and-"

"Ryan, shut up." Shane meant it light-heartedly, but it came out more snappish than he intended.

"Shit, sorry, right, Shane Madej is too cool for school dances, right," Ryan said dejectedly, turning to go back into the office. Sighing, Shane grabbed his arm, spinning him so he was facing Shane again, and leaning down to kiss him. 

The first time they had kissed, Shane had been sitting down, so he hadn't had to think much about the physics behind kissing with their height difference. Standing and kissing was a bit harder, but he felt the difference when Ryan moved to stand on his tiptoes, the shorter wrapping his arms around his neck. There weren't any electric sparks or anything crazy like that, it just felt... right. Like the universe was still moving like it was supposed to, like everything was falling into place like it was supposed to.

When Ryan pulled away, lips shiny and a bit swollen, they both smiled like idiots at each other.

"I told you to shut up because it's no question. Of course, I'll go to the dance with you," Shane explained, and Ryan's smile somehow grew wider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter coming your way Feb. 14 'cause I guess that's a special day for some weird reason


	7. Sweethearts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt7oMSOB7nw

"You know this is borderline embarrassing, right?" Ryan complained, but his mom waved him off.

"Shane, quit it with the awkward prom pose and drop the act," Jake, Ryan's younger brother teased. Since they had started taking pictures over 15 minutes ago, Shane had been doing his best to leave a respectable distance between him and his boyfriend. And you couldn't blame him, he had known Mrs. Bergara for years, and he didn't want her to think the worst of him. 

"I'm just trying to be a gentleman," the taller explained nonchalantly, but grabbed Ryan's ass when his mom wasn't looking. This elicited a sly grin from the shorter of the two, and Jake wolf-whistled.

Taking photos before the dance ended up taking over an hour. When Becca finally pulled up with her car, it was a godsend. There were only so many poses you could do before all you wanted was loosen your tie and take a break.

He took that thought back the second Becca pulled into the school parking lot. She had screamed, "Use protection!" at the top of her lungs, and Shane could feel his face turn red. 

It was worth it though, too, because Ryan had never looked so excited. He reminded Shane of a little kid on Christmas morning, bubbly with wide eyes. It was downright adorable.

Shane had never been one for school dances, always finding them to be horrendous social events. A bunch of loud and sweaty teenagers in a cramped space while under the watchful eye of chaperones? Usually he would scoff at the couples posting all their dance pics on social media, but this time around, he found himself in the same mindset as Ryan. He, too, was somehow very excited for tonight. 

Ryan looked stunning. He always looked good, but in the moment he looked exceptionally well-dressed in his suit. In comparison, Shane felt like an awkward twig on stilts. Actually, taking his coordination and balance into consideration, he was probably going to look as such while dancing tonight. But who cared? He was going to be dancing with Ryan Steven Bergara, and haters could stick it up their ass. He was going to have the time of his life tonight.

"Oh, dear god. That is absolutely gaudy," Ryan said to Shane's right, snapping him out of his thoughts. He followed Ryan's gaze to where Corey and Isaac had just walked into the gym.

"I love those two," Shane commented. Corey was wearing an American flag suit, and Isaac's was hot pink. Together, it looked like an absolute disaster, but with their confidence it somehow worked. 

"And to think, I almost let them take me suit shopping for this," Ryan laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. Shane wheezed with him, imagining what god-awful thing they would've somehow convinced Ryan to wear. Probably something with sequins and glitter. Knowing Ryan, he still would've pulled it off. 

They spent a good hour slowly moving through the large gym, talking with their friends and dancing to the awful pop songs blasting through the overhead speakers. The place was getting unbearably hot, and Shane didn't blame Ryan when he asked if they could go out for some air. Following him through the exit into the hall, they ended up in the newspaper office, because it was one of the few places the chaperones wouldn't find them and get mad at them for leaving the gym. 

What Shane was not expecting, was for Ryan to push him up against a desk the second the door closed. Lips found lips, and hands found their way onto each other, grabbing at each other's clothes and hair. Shane was moving to loosen his tie as Ryan pulled off his suit jacket, when a voice spoke up from the other side of the room.

"Oh, that's definitely a keeper," Steven said. He had just taken some good blackmail pictures with his phone, and he was definitely going to include them in the slideshow at their wedding. He was sat on a desk with Andrew next to him, both editors laughing at the predicament Shane and Ryan found themselves in. 

All of the sudden, the door slammed open, and all four of them jumped. The couple that stumbled in next, also engrossed in each other, groaned when they pulled apart to see the room already occupied.

"The gays of the newspaper seriously need a better hook-up spot," Corey observed, and Isaac punched his shoulder.

"We were here first," Andrew said monotonously, head leaning on Steven's shoulder. 

"And you didn't stop us when we barged in! Why did you wait so long to announce your presence?" Ryan turned to them, and Andrew shrugged.

"Voyeurs. Well, we're going back to the dance now," Isaac laughed, grabbing Corey's tie and dragging him after him. Andrew and Steven hopped off the desk they were sitting on, straightening their bow-ties and quickly heading out as well, leaving Shane and Ryan by themselves.

Shane raised an eyebrow at Ryan, smirking suggestively, and Ryan shook his head.

"No. We'll continue this in the privacy of our own homes. Next thing you know, and Eugene is going to barge in here with his date. We're going back to the dance too."

-

The rest of the night went pretty flawlessly. It was coming to a close, people slowly trickling out, and Shane really had enjoyed himself, as earlier anticipated. Ryan had been gone for a few minutes, but he wasn't too worried, he was probably getting punch or in the bathroom. 

The song changed, to a tune that Shane had least expected to hear tonight. They had been playing only recent music from the past few years or so, but this song was a downright classic. 

"Dance with me!" Ryan had shouted, dragging Shane onto the dance floor and throwing his arms around him. 

"Did you request this?" Shane asked, and Ryan smiled cheekily.

"It's your favorite band, I couldn't resist."

"I love you," Shane said, pulling Ryan into a kiss. Ryan exchanged the sentiment, and they continued to dance until The Cure song ended. 

It was the best night of Shane's life. A memory that he was never going to let go.

 

-10 years later-

"Happy Valentine's day, short stack," Shane commented as he sat down at the breakfast table, handing Ryan his gift.

"For me? Oh, you should've have." His husband wheezed, but still reached out for it expectantly. 

It was a box wrapped in newspapers, and once unwrapped, inside the box was a scrapbook. On the very first page, were too love notes, carefully cut out and pasted side-by-side.

"How did you find these?" 

"I may or may not have been holding on to all my copies of every single paper from when we were in high school. I recently found them all when I was cleaning a few weeks ago," Shane explained. Ryan gushed, flipping through each page that detailed their relationship through the rest of high school, college, and so on. 

"Oh god, this picture," he laughed, and Shane leaned over to see which one he was talking about. Oh yes, the one from where they had been making out in the newspaper office the night of the Sweethearts dance. As a prank, Steven had printed out hundreds of copies, plastering them all over the office the following week. Eventually, he had gotten him back with a picture of him and Andrew, but it was all in light fun.

"To be young again," Ryan sighed.

"Oh shut up, you're not even 30 yet."

"Let me reminisce!" the shorter whined, but leaned over and kissed Shane's cheek. 

 

And looking back, at everything that he had done in high school and the impact those actions had, Shane knew that he wouldn't change a single thing. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> acronyms:  
> EIC: Editor-in-Chief  
> SL: Student Life  
> A&E: Arts & Entertainment


End file.
